BSA B44 victor Redline?

Just short of "BOOM!"

...wait, Nortons go "BOOM"; BSAs go "BLAM!", or was it the other way 'round?
 
Rev till the power goes flat, Shift. If you bend a push rod you held it in the flat spot too long. About 5500-6000. Stock form they just don't breathe good enough to over rev in top gear. In the lower gears you could over do it.
 
Hi. I have a very nice original 68 441 Shooting Star so once in a while I keep a eye out on Ebay etc for BSA stuff. A few months ago some one had what seemed to be a never used original Smiths accessory Tachometer made for the BSA 441's. I don't know how true it would be but you could try to find a picture of one (or go to "completed items" in Ebay to find it) and see what they marked the red line at. I would be interested to know how high I rev mine when I'm pushing it. Though in truth I don't terrorize the little thing (or my raggedy bones) to much.
 
Gitsun,

I bought an NOS tach from Brit Cycle, which is the event that started this thread (there seems to be a recently-discovered cache of these NOS tachs). The tach is good looking, works very well, and is in new condition. There is no redline marked on the tach; the specs from Rupert Ratio's manual shows that the B44 develops 28 hp at 6500 rpm, and a "safe" maximum at 7000. I've added a redline to the tach at 6500 just to preserve the originality of the beast. My bike is a complete rebuild with 5100 original miles on it, and runs smoothly up to 5000 rpm or so, where I usually shift.
 
I have a Cheney BSA with a 441 engine that has been modified some, on the dyno it makes 33 hp at 6200 rpm, it will rev to 7200 with a 8% drop in power, max torque comes at about 5600 rpm. They are a long stroke engine and not real happy at high rpm.

Ken G.
 
I've got a couple of them. I've never seen one with a tach though. I'd imagine about 6500. No need to wring it's neck though...
Hughie Hancox tells of a Meridan QC guy that said of an engine failure...Herold wouldn't have done that.
 
Your vision would get blurred and your kidneys start to delaminate before you hit the red-line!
 
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